Ugandan High Court judge Vincent Musoke-Kibuuka has ordered Uganda’s Rolling Stone newspaper (no relation to the US American magazine) to stop publishing the names of homosexuals, after the paper’s “revelations” led to attacks against allegedly gay Ugandans.

On 19 October, the newspaper began publishing batches of names from a series it called “100 Pictures of Uganda’s Top Homos Leak – Hang Them”, which urged the Ugandan government to take action against the country’s gay population.

Editor Giles Muhame has not apologized, and says his paper will continue to publish the series.

The article emerged one year after a bill was introduced that would have provided the death penalty for homosexuals, and imposed criminal penalties on heterosexual Ugandans that have business or private relations with homosexuals. The controversial legislation was shelved following international outcry, but is reportedly now back on the table.

Last week, IPI Acting Director Alison Bethel McKenzie sent a letter to editor Muhame, reprimanding Rolling Stone for its irresponsibility in violating Ugandan’s privacy and inciting violence. IPI believes that when newspapers publish articles that expose private information about individuals who are outside the public eye, and when they call for violence against those individuals, they do a disservice to journalists around the world who are fighting for press freedom.

IPI believes that Mr. Muhame’s editorial decisions were in breach of professional journalistic ethics, and Rolling Stone should stop printing the list and offer a prominent apology.

Such transgressions of professional journalistic ethics make all journalists look bad – and make it harder to argue for press freedom without government restriction.